Hello guys and girls, since there is no guide for BM on wotlk I have decided to present some information for the hunting brothers on Warmane.
As many of u already know this is the easiest spec for leveling/soloing, but is it competitive in the end-game content?
Beast Mastery is definitely the most fun spec to play, due to beign able to tame exotic pets, who not only look awesome, but can also hit almost as hard as you. It is the most beginner friendly, as it has the easiest rotation, but that doesn't mean it requires no skill to play. If u master the spec you will be competitive in both PvE and PvP.
In terms of DPS, according to the hunter spreadsheet, BM's output is about the same as Survival's, however Markmanship beats both specs by around 1k dps with bis gear. However the variable not taken into account is the "player". Hunter's dps is more of a prioritisation than a rotation, that requires you to know which skill to use at the specific moment. That means a Marksman can easily get outdps'd by a BMaster, due to marksmanship beign a more complicated spec to master. Even if both player are "masters of their trade" no fight is ever the same, so always do your best.
A blessing and a curse: The buffed Pet that you have makes you king of fights that require movement, because it keeps hitting and your dps won't fall as much when u move as with the other specs. This can also have the opposite effect if your pet dies, you are pretty reliant on it's dps, so try to keep him alive, or ress him as fast as possible.Talents
This is the main spec u will use in PvE:
http://wotlk.openwow.com/talent#ctbMzttRfu0eRt0eVoZxPvP:
http://wotlk.openwow.com/talent#cqbMzttRfu0eRt0eVooZL
Not a big difference, but utilising Aimed shot as a healing reducer is vital, if you want to kill healers.Leveling:
http://wotlk.openwow.com/talent#ctbMzttRfu0eRt0eVooZL
Mixing pve spec with aimed shot, for those healing mobs or when you run into other players from the opposing faction (which you will do in every zone)So these are my specs, yes differences are only 2 talents, but i dont think you will need any other talent.
Pets
The pets in wotlk are very similar in terms of DPS, but the top ones to use in PVE are definitely Devilsaur (highest pet dmg) and Wolf (buffs your dmg).
You can also be tempted to get a cool looking spirit beast, but have in mind it does a little less damage than the two above.This is the spec you might want to use:
Alternative spec without dash, cause i find it a waste most of the times with it's 30 focus cost, instead we have the passive 30% movement speed, also Charge instead of Bloodthristy, which means u will have to feed the pet or with http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=43350 just use Mend Pet untill he's happy.For PvP there are also many good pets, but the recommended ones are the Chimaera, the Core Hound and the Worm.
The Chimaera has a little more utility being a cunning pet, and also has Froststorm breath, which is a great ability which slows down enemies for 5 sec (which cant be removed by trinket) and does nature dmg (ignores armor). Great overall.
The Core Hound on the other hand is a pure bursting pet, coming with high dps and Lava Breath ability, which does fire dmg and reduces target's casting speed by 25%. Great for arena.
The Worm is a tenacity pet, so he does the least damage, but also takes the most of it. Great for BGs.
Specs u can use (left one being the most popular):A few pet tips:
Always disable your Growl autocast, if you don't need it to tank, as it consumes 15 focus.
Make sure your pet is happy always.
Don't forget your pet's special abilities and talents. Timing Culling the Herd, Furious Howl, Call of the Wild, Rabid and Kill Command with your Rapid Fire and Bestial Wrath, can produce some massive burst of damage.Glyphs
Glyph of Bestial Wrath: No BM Hunter should be without this glyph. Combined with 3/3 Longevity, Glyph of Bestial Wrath will reduce the cooldown on Bestial Wrath and The Beast Within to 1 minute, 10 seconds.
Glyph of Steady Shot As long as your Serpent Sting is active on the target, this glyph adds 10% damage to the BM Hunters most often used special shot.
Third slot glyph can be one of these:
Glyph of the Hawk: Provides an additional 6% haste when Improved Aspect of the Hawk procs. (first choice)
Glyph of Serpent Sting: Adds 6 seconds to the duration of Serpent Sting.
Glyph of Kill Shot: Increases the dmg of Kill Shot by 10%.Stats prioritisation
Hit rating(5%pvp/8%pve) - > Agility/AP
Gems:
Meta: http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=41398
Prismatic: http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=49110
All others: http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=40112 or http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=40114Optional: You can gem for arp cap (1400 rating), but only when u are near the cap from items.
Endgame Best in Slots
Melee Weapon: http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=50735
Ranged weapon: http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=50733
Head: http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=51289
Neck: http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=50633
Shoulders: http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=51288
Chest: http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=51289
Wrist: http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=50655
Hands: http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=51285
Waist: http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=50688
Legs: http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=50645
Boots: http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=54577
Rings: http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=50402
http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=54576
Trinkets: http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=50363
http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=54590Macros and shot priority
Basic priority is:
Kill Shot
Serpent Sting
Multi Shot
Arcane Shot
Steady ShotMacros:
Burst macro: I like to use my Bestial Wrath separately, but if u want you can include it in this macro.
#showtooltip
/cast Kill Command
/cast Call of the Wild
/cast Rapid Fire
/use 14 (the bottom trinket slot)Misdirection: This macro casts misdirection on your focus target, if you don't have one, casts on your pet.
#showtooltip
/cast [@focus,help][help][@pet,exists] MisdirectionMaster's Call macro: Casts Master's call on you. Replace "name" with the name of your Character.
#showtooltip
/cast [@name,exists] Master's CallI hope this guide brings you some perspective on the BM hunter, and thanks for reading! I will post screenshots soon.
Thanks to: Todoran, Huntsmanslodge, Shandara's Hunter DPS Spreadsheet
DPS Test vs Dummy 80 lvl on Blackrock, MM vs BM comparison:
Tested for around 300k damage, used all skills available and tried my best to do the most dps.
Gear 5600 gs pve fully enchanted and gemmed with agility (agi is good for both specs), no arp cap so arcane shot used in mm rotation.
BM: http://imgur.com/Q1hDExI
MM: http://imgur.com/zEYIDEN
So results: MM got nearly 500 dps more and can sustain it longer. BM dps drops a lot after burst and in a longer fight the difference may become higher than 500. With that in mind i think BM is still competitive and can be used for raiding, without a doubt a hunter in every spec is a top damage dealer.
An interesting fact is that my pet had almost the same atack power in both specs, so there might be something bugged in the scaling, but I'm not sure how it was in retail wotlk.Some screenshots(more soon):
PvP:
http://imgur.com/zBkaPjr (77 level battleground)
http://imgur.com/7WXM3Og (77 level battleground)
http://imgur.com/mPBCPtJ (80 lvl battleground)
PvE:
http://imgur.com/X2rP46W (OS 10, 3580 gs, with the PvP spec)
